Day 46

Not a very exciting day at the clinic but interesting nonetheless. I went to talk to Vicky first and I had a wonderful conversation with her. She is such a thoughtful person. I looked for a place to observe today and spent the next 5 hours in the labor and delivery ward. The first thing I saw was the patient lying on the table without a scrap of clothes on her. She was walking all around the room and venturing out to other parts of the ward without a care in the world. The nurses explained that when you’re in that much pain you don’t care how exposed you are. After a couple hours of observing her a woman came in with her baby just hours old. She had just given birth at home and came in to get the baby bathed and to have the OB check her.

They set the baby on the counter and then everyone left the room to help the mom get situated. I was the only one in the room while this newborn squirmed on the counter. I stood right next to it making sure it didn’t fall off while I still couldn’t believe everyone had left. The nurses came back in the room while they unwrapped the adorable baby and put him into the sink. He was on one side with the warm water on the other. They picked him up by his hands together and started scrubbing. They use the same loofa that I use to wash with and it is so rough I can barely stand it. The little baby barely cried as he got picked up without any support for his neck. Now I realize why they can carry so much on their heads, they’ve been training for it since birth, literally. The baby was born today so it will be called Yao (Thursday born). After they cleaned him they dried him off and put him on the scale. He weighed a perfect 2.6 kgs (6 lbs 1 oz). After the baby and mom were settled in the ward things got back to normal. The nurse was instructed to give the laboring woman one injection to manage the pain and the other to help the cervix dilate faster. This woman came in at noon yesterday which means she’s been here for more than 26 hours. She was still pretty far from delivering and I needed to head home to go grocery shopping with Cassie. Once Cassie was home we talked all about our days and then went into the market place. We first bought green peppers and eggs and then tried to find flour. No one had flour in the market place but another lady a little while down the road had some. We unsuccessfully looked for pineapples and mangos but I think they’re out of season. Once we got home I got my workout gear and did a 30-minute workout. About 20 minutes in Grace came to join me and she loved it! I was so happy that she came to join me. Tomorrow she is going to join me at the beginning of it. I think I also got Matilda to promise me she would join us for one. I then had another interesting shower experience. First the light wasn’t working but I had fireflies to help me out, which was pretty cool because those are my favorite bugs. The water pressure was pretty low so I just ran around under the water for a second then put shampoo in my hair. I used my new loofa and scrubbed myself down and then turned on the water but nothing was coming out. I waited for a few minutes hoping maybe I could get more water but it wasn’t happening tonight. So still covered in soap with shampoo in my hair I had to wipe down with the towel and walk back to my room. I felt so sticky but tried my best to get over it. Grace gave me groundnuts that she had just made so I ate a few of those for dinner while reading some of my coursework.  

XOXO

Ama